Thai foreign minister says ASEAN lo (r)

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Thai foreign minister says ASEAN losing influence

By Michael Perry
SYDNEY, July 13 (Reuters) - Asia's economic crisis has diminished the
influence of ASEAN, the cornerstone of regional stability and security, and it
must drop its foundation policy of non-interference, Thai Foreign Minister
Surin Pitsuwan said. 

Surin said the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) had to change
its 31-year-old policy of ``constructive engagement'' to one of ``flexible
engagement,'' where members talked openly and frankly about national economic
and political issues adversely affecting the region. 

``As we have suffered economic downturn, and as some leaderships in the region
have been affected, ASEAN's influence, ASEAN's contribution to regional
affairs has been diminished,'' Surin told a business seminar and news
conference in Sydney. 

``Constructive engagement has been seen as a negative approach, a passive
policy,'' Surin said on Monday. 

``Thailand is now suggesting flexible engagement on issues that have a
negative impact on others in the region, be it economic or political,'' he
said. 

Asked whether other ASEAN nations supported this policy change, Surin said he
believed they wanted more details before coming on board. ASEAN groups Brunei,
Burma, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and
Vietnam. 

Surin said Thailand was at the ``heart of Southeast Asia'' and vulnerable to
its neighbours' problems, citing 100,000 displaced people on its eastern and
western borders and 700,000 illegal workers in Thailand. 

``We need to be able to discuss these issues more openly and frankly between
ourselves, within the family,'' he said but added: ``We are not going to
interfere with each others' affairs.'' 

Drugs, immigration, the environment, crime and disease were also areas ASEAN
must tackle on a regional basis, he said. 

Surin also said Southeast Asian nations needed to work together to achieve a
regional economic recovery, not merely seek to save their own national
economies, if Asia was to avoid depression as warned by the World Bank. 

``I think we have to avoid that herd instinct to save ourselves ... If we
don't commit ourselves to a herd instinct ... we will be able to avoid the
deep recession,'' he said. 

``If it becomes a herd instinct, it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy for
the entire region and quite possibly the entire world economy.'' 

But Surin said ASEAN governments were becoming preoccupied with domestic
affairs and the organisation was losing momentum in areas such as the ASEAN
Free Trade Area (AFTA). 

``At this crucial time I fully believe that it is essential for ASEAN's member
states to intensify their co-operation ... to ensure the relevance of the
organisation as the regional leader in foreign policy initiatives and
diplomacy,'' he said. 

The minister said eventually ASEAN would be like the European Union -- an
integrated economic market with free labour and commodity movements. 

He said ASEAN's vision for 2020, when the organisation would probably
represent 10 nations and more than half a billion people, was for ``one
democratic, pluralistic Southeast Asia.'' 

``We foresee a time when it will have to be one unified, open market -- open
regionalism,'' he said. 

``Thus, ASEAN must gather its inner strength and resiliency to consolidate
regional unity and rise to the challenge possibly through such mechanisms as
enhanced region-wide macro-economic policy co-ordination and more flexible
engagement.'' 

On Monday, Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Domingo Siazon said ASEAN
should stick to its target date for a regional free trade zone despite the
Asian financial turmoil. 

Under the ASEAN Free Trade Area, members of the association agreed to reduce
tariffs to between zero to five percent by 2003. 

Some economic officials of the administration of new Philippine President
Joseph Estrada had called for a review of the AFTA deadline in view of the
financial crisis sweeping Asia. 

``But right now, I don't see any reason why we should really delay the
implementation of AFTA. All this can be negotiated but the target date should
be kept.'' He did not elaborate. 

03:17 07-13-98